a the president. kerry medwithsergeylavrov. afterwards,he spoke of hope for de-escalation of tension. >> russia made a choice. and we have clearly stated that we believe it is the wrong choice, that is the choice to move troops into crimea. russia can now choose to de-escalate this situation. and we are committed to working with russia. and together with our friends and allies in an effort to provide a way for this entire situation to find the road to de-escalation. the united states is ready to work with all parties to make that happen and to make it happen as soon as possible. >> russian president vladimir putin has also spoken to angela merkel today. if diplomacy fails, the u.s. and its allies could put in sanctions against russia in a matter of days. howard fineman and michael mcfall. he's now a fellow at the hoover institution and an msnbc analyst. mr. ambassador, it's great to have you. give us your sense of the limits of this crisis. is there a sense in your mind right now based on your experience that vladimir putin has pushed as far as he's going to go or you think he might

ministersergeilavrovbeforethe meeting with kerry. what did he have to say? >> goodmorning,sergeilavrovspeaking in madrid making clear the russian position is far from the american position. moscow believes president viktor yanukovych was ousted illegally. that moscow was forced to act because what happened in kiev could be contagious, criticising the west for supporting the new government in kiev, criticising what sergei lavrov called protesters acting against the ukrainian constitution and russia can't do anything about ordering forces back to bases because they are self-defence forces. that is a critical point. there are thousands of troops across the peninsula blockading bases and ports outside every gate of every military installation, russian, with weapons. they are military uniforms. ukrainian officers said they are clearly russian, they spoke to some. some have identified, the vast majority have not, but they are travelling in russian military vehicles and russian licence baits. >> you are in crimea, where tensions are high on tuesday. where do they remain now? >> they a

counterpart,sergeylavrov. wealso had the phone call the president had with angela merkel, but let me start with kerry and lavrov. what do they say to each other? what's critical right now? >> first of all, the fact they are meeting is a good sign. they have developed a cordial relationship. i've been in many meetings with them and the fact they are talking leads open the possibility of this off-ramp that you mentioned and that the president and the administration is trying to provide for putin. i don't think there will be any break ththroughs today, i think it's early for that, but you will hear about the consequences, economic consequences of continuing this and foreign minister lavrov, just the justification for it all. resolution will come later in this crisis. if it comes at all. >> meantime, simultaneously, you have secretary kerry talking to a lot, frankly, of foreign counterparts. here's some of the criticism that we've been hearing. this one from congressman mike rogers. >> right now, putin has set the table in the crimea for negotiations the way he would like them to go, and i thi

they will start to see that. >> reporter: but in switzerland, russia's foreignminister,sergeylavrov, againsaid moscow was protecting russian citizens in crimea. and he lashed back at threats of economic penalties. >> ( translated ): those who attempt to interpret the situation as an act of aggression and threaten us with sanctions and boycotts, these are the very same partners of ours who consistently have encouraged political forces close to them to deliver an ultimatum and refuse dialogue, to ignore the concerns of southern and eastern regions of ukraine, which has ultimately polarized ukrainian society. >> reporter: back in kiev, rumors of war stirred differing responses. this couple, a ukrainian woman and russian man, urged calm. >> ( translated ): we are against the conflict. we are for peace and friendship. we do not want war. >> we do not want people to kill each other. we want people to live peacefully everywhere, on all continents and everywhere in other countries. >> reporter: but others seemed ready to man the ramparts. >> we have no fear at all. now our children are going to milita

and in rome. you willseesergeilavrovbutdoesn't seem they are backing down. >> it does seem, the ukrainian government and military, russian military out of uniform but there, are trying not to shoot at each other to be blunt. >> i think that's true. i think there were some shots fired today apparently and there are ship movements and worrying facts on the ground. so far it has not been a violent confrontation. kerry was praising ukrainian leaders for showing restraint because the provocation politically and russia could move farther into the rest of the ukraine. so he is urging them to pull themselves together into an interim government that doesn't give putin any pretext that he can point to to try to take control of an entire country. >> let's talk about the president, our president. president obama seems to be allowing the russians do have an interest in ukraine in the sense there's a history of the russian people living there, russian speaking people being there, actually russian natives as well. they've got the fleet down there in the black sea. they seem -- he seems to be saying, you

with his russiancounterpart,sergeylavrov. secretarykerry said he urged lavrov to engage in direct talks with ukraine. meantime, parallel talks between nato and russia are being held in brussels, belgium. secretary kerry also met in paris today with u.s. allies. that meeting included ukraine's new interim foreign minister, who was one of the protesters in kiev. he actually traveled to paris with kerry after kerry's high profile visit to that country's capital yesterday. the meeting concluded with issuing of the statements saying in part, "united states, united kingdom, and ukraine agreed direct talks between ukraine and russia facilitated as needed by members of the international community are crucial to resolving the current situation." meantime, russian troops remain in firm control of ukraine's crimea peninsula, amid lingering fears they will not stop there. jim maceda joins us live from moscow with more on the diplomatic efforts under way. jim, what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, there, tamron, well, that meeting you referred to was indeed brief, kerry did urge lavrov to have direct